In a significant ruling clarifying how penalties for multiple contraventions should be assessed, a full Federal Court has in cutting by more than half a $445,000 fine imposed on the CEPU rejected a judge's "global" approach to the historic reporting breaches.
A "recidivist" Tasmanian CFMMEU official whose belligerence has cost the union almost $500,000 in fines is finally off the ABCC's hit list, after a court ruled he should personally pay a $20,000 penalty for the latest of his entry breaches, which stretch back to 2015.
The ACCC has initiated a boycotts case against major construction company J Hutchinson and the CFMMEU, claiming the union persuaded the head contractor to ditch a waterproofing subcontractor that did not have a union deal, or face industrial action.
The Federal Court has penalised the CFMMEU and three construction division WA branch officials $180,000 for organising a half-day strike in 2018 over redundancy pay for Perth Airport rail link workers, 39 of whom also copped $4000 fines.
The ABCC is investigating stoppages at five Sydney building projects overseen by two builders ahead of possible protected industrial action ballots by members of the CFMMEU, which is pursuing a new pattern agreement.
The construction IR watchdog has vowed to closely police major infrastructure projects as Australia emerges from the pandemic, even as the number of enquiries about unlawful industrial action has plummeted by 65% over the past financial year.
A five-member full Federal Court has today warned judges against allowing "moral judgements" to intrude when they are imposing penalties, in overturning heavy fines for a CFMMEU "no ticket, no start" transgression after a judicial officer took the wrong approach to its "recidivist" history of contraventions.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has today identified precarious work as a substantial driver of the State's escalating coronavirus second wave, while the Melbourne-based head of the ABCC is under fire for leaving the virus hotspot to conduct a compulsory examination in Brisbane.
Hundreds of construction workers today protested at a site in Melbourne over an alleged assault on two CFMMEU officials that has attracted the interest of the ABCC.
The ABCC is investigating allegations that the CFMMEU pressured more than 100 NSW sub-contractors into signing up to a new three-year pattern agreement providing 5% annual pay rises and fixed rostered days off.
